COMICS READING FOR MAY: “Free comics? Yay!”

**** From Hell, Supreme, Swamp Thing, Whatever
Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?

***League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the
first two series), Axel Pressbutton, Tom Strong

**Promethea

* LoEG: Century: 1969

DUD(or lower)anything he’s written for Avatar or any of the non-comics drivel he
shits out on a regular basis

1.-4. Fatale
#1-4 (Image, 2012) ****

Writer: Ed
Brubaker/Artist: Sean PhillipsThe usual
noir greatness, this time with a HP Lovecraft horror twist.5.-6. Grace
Randolph’s Supurbia (Boom, 2012) ***½Writer:
Grace Randolph/Artist: Russell DautermanI’ve heard
it described as the JLA meets Desperate
Housewives. Seems accurate. A promising start.7. The
Secret Service #1 (Icon, 2012) ***¼ Writer: Mark
Millar/Artist: Dave GibbonsToo early to
tell where thiswill go, but it’s a
solid start to the series.8.-9. Hell
Yeah #1-2 (Image, 2012) ***¼Writer: Joe
Keatinge/Artist: Andre SzymanowiczEveryone’s
doing superheroes-in-the-real-world type tales this year, it seems. This title
seems to have a strong mysterious premise – slacker superhero discovers
alternate versions of himself are being murdered (last-page reveal...by his
superhero mother!)and has to man up to
save his life. And why did superheroes suddenly appear 20 years ago? Are they
evil aliens (my theory). I’m intrigued enough to stick with it for another
issue or so.10.-11.
Super Crooks #1-2 (Icon, 2012) ****½Writer: Mark
Millar/Artist: Leinil YuSupervillains
travel to Spain to avoid an America chockers with superheroes. And they plan to
rob the world’s greatest supervillain in the process? This looks like violent
fun, with shades of The Italian Job and Ocean’s 11 thrown in for good measure.
Great stuff!12.
America’s Got Powers #1 (Image, 2012) ****Writer:
Jonathan Ross/Artist: Bryan HitchA very
English take on the reality TV genre. Fantastic art by Hitch (as always), but
Ross’s tale is a bit “seen it all before”. Still, his dialogue is fun and I’m
interested to check out the next issue.13. Secret
#1 (Image, 2012) ***½ Writer:
Jonathan Hickman/Artist: Ryan Bodenheim14. Heart #4
(Image, 2012) ***¼Writer:
Blair Butler/Artist: Kevin MellonA
surprisingly downbeat ending to this reasonably entertaining MMA-themed
miniseries.15.-16.
Ragemoor #1-2 (Dark Horse, 2012) ***¾Writer: Jan
Strnad/Artist: Richard CorbenCorben!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!17.
Annihilators: Earthfall #4 (Marvel, 2012) ***Writers: Dan
Abnett & Andy Lanning/Artist: Tan Eng HuatA flat
ending to a series that I was enjoying to this point. The Rocket Racooon
back-up was also less than fabulous.18. Supreme
#63 (Image, 2012) ****Writer: Alan
Moore/Artists: Erik Larsen & Cory HamscherSupreme is
back! And I’m kinda intrigued to see where Erik’s gonna take this
Superman-pastiche series now that he’s running with the ball handed to him by
this old Alan Moore script (who wrote it back in the late 90s before Awesome
went belly-up and it was never published). Could be fun to see how Supreme
handles having his world overrun by a legion of evil Darius Daxes.